Car insurance and combatting car crime

The UK car insurance industry consists of a large number of insurers and insurance intermediaries, all of which are aiming for a healthy market share so they can enjoy the resulting profitability. Read more about the UK car insurance industry or read about insurance intermediaries.

From the consumers' point of view, car insurance is a necessary payout that is required by law. Drivers generally look for a motor insurance company that is cheap but still provides a level of cover that is suitable to their motoring habits.

From this it can be seen that the interests of consumers and the interests of the car insurance industry are very different. However, there is one topic which both parties rate as being very important. The issue is that of car crime.

There are multiple benefits of tackling car crime for the private consumer. People want to be able to take to the roads with as little risk as possible of being injured in an accident and they don't want to have to worry about leaving their car unattended for fear of it being stolen. A lower rate of car crime in a neighbourhood is likely to impact the level of related crimes, making it a better place to live and increasing house prices.

However, whether or not a neighbourhood is a nice place to live is of little concern to most car insurance companies. Their interest lies in the fact that better road safety means fewer accidents and thus fewer expensive personal injury and car repair claims on drivers' car insurance policies. A lower rate of car crime means that fewer people will need to call on their motor insurance company to pay out after their car has been stolen or damaged.

One of the most common types of car crime is that of driving without car insurance. It is estimated that 1 in 20 drivers on UK roads does not have any motor insurance - a figure much higher than in most other European countries. However, the car insurance industry is playing an important role in both cracking down on and dealing with the consequences of uninsured driving.

Motor Insurers' Bureau (MIB)

As it is impossible for an innocent driver to make a car insurance claim against a motorist who is uninsured or whose identity is unknown, it is vital that they have somewhere to turn to for compensation after an accident. The Motor Insurers' Bureau (MIB) was set up in 1946 as an organisation which could provide exactly this service.

Under the Road Traffic Act 1988, every UK car insurance company must put funds into the MIB in order to provide this help for innocent drivers who have been injured by uninsured or untraceable motorists. This extra cost cannot be entirely funded by the car insurance firms so is passed onto the consumer, adding around £30 to an average motor insurance quote.

The MIB is active in monitoring uninsured driving and regularly publishes the results of its research into the issue. Its most recent results show that the West Gorton area of Manchester is the place with the highest incidence of people driving without car insurance, but is closely followed by Bakerend in Bradford and Newtown in Birmingham.

These statistics allow police to focus their resources most appropriately in order to identify those who are breaking the law by getting behind the wheel without car insurance. Identification of these criminals can be difficult but is becoming much more viable thanks to improving technology and a division of the MIB called the Motor Insurers' Information Centre (MIIC).

Motor Insurers' Information Centre (MIIC)

The MIIC was founded in 2000 for the purpose of managing the Motor Insurance Database (MID). This database collects insurance information from all private cars and, more recently, fleet vehicles from all over Europe.

This information can then be accessed by police, the MIB and the MIIC in order to identify the insurers of vehicles which have been involved in accidents.

Before the Motor Insurance Database was set up, it was very difficult for people to pursue compensation after being hurt in an accident in another country. The 4th EU Motor Insurance Directive was established in 2003 in response to this need, and the database now plays a large part in fulfilling its requirements.

The police are the biggest users of the MID and make more than 2 million queries each month. They use special digital radios to check the database to find out whether a car on the road is insured, thereby allowing them to identify an uninsured drivers quickly and easily. This makes crackdowns on uninsured driving much more effective and the ease of identification also acts as a deterrent for motorists who are considering driving without car insurance.

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*A replacement car can normally be arranged under one of the following conditions: (1) Comprehensive policyholders – a replacement car may be available under the terms of your insurance policy. Please check your policy details for more information. (2) Non fault accident – where we have the name, car registration number and insurance details of the person who caused the accident, we can supply a replacement car. This is done on a credit hire basis which means the costs for this service will be passed onto the insurance company of the person who caused the accident. We may not be able to arrange a replacement car where we are unable to get an admission of liability from their insurance company, or where the driver is untraceable or uninsured. (3) Repair garage – if your car is booked in for repairs following an accident, the repair garage may be able to provide a replacement car (subject to availability).